Scenes
Die kleine Benimmschule 4
"The Little School of Behaviour 4"
Both films “Money alone ...” (negative version) and “Money costs ...” (positive version) are divided into chapters, which can also be played individually. Good and bad behaviour can be directly compared with one another during lessons.
Money Alone
Bullying due to Receiving Benefits
The school trip is fast approaching for Class 7B. The teacher, Mrs Faller shows PowerPoint slides during the lesson and explains to the students about the group activities that are planned to help them all get to know each other better. Upon hearing there will be a big party on the final evening, everyone starts talking. It is only CHRISSIE who doesn't join in with all the excitement. She stares dreamily over at her classmate Dennis. She is completely smitten with him. Her daydreaming comes to an abrupt end as the teacher hands her a piece of paper: her parents still haven't transferred the money for the school trip. They have to do it by Monday, otherwise she won't be able to go. Chrissie quickly gets rid of the letter. No one can find out that her parents have financial problems, especially not her best friend CLARISSA who sits next to her and clearly has well-off parents. Luckily Clarissa has chosen TOMMY, whose mother receives benefits, as her victim. To divert attention from herself, Chrissie joins in taunting Tommy. But Tommy fights back. He saw that Chrissie also received a letter. Chrissie feels as if she has been found out. Angrily she throws Tommy's school things on the floor and steps on them before she storms off in a rage. Tommy and his friend RAMONA pick up his broken things.
Daddy's Broke
Chrissie races home on her bike. She is very het up. There's a removal van in front of a beautiful detached house. Chrissie's father, STEFFAN, had to closed down his company after suffering an accident, which in turn led to them losing the house.
Chrissie brakes in front of her father and her little sister, MADELEINE, who tearfully explains that they can't take their beloved rabbits with them to the new apartment. Chrissie angrily chucks her bike to the ground and runs to her mother, KATJA, who is in the garden but she can't stop the rabbits being given away to the neighbour.
The new apartment is situated in the busy town centre. Chrissie has to share a room with her sister. Her sister is listening to loud music so Chrissie throws Madeleine's CD-Player on the floor. At the dinner table, Chrissie's father gives her a talking to. Chrissie explodes immediately. She slaps the letter from the school onto the table in front of her parents. Her parents look embarrassed. They had completely forgotten about the class trip and now they don't have either the time or the money to deal with it. Chrissie angrily blames her father for not having a job.
Making Money
The next morning, Chrissie meets Tommy and Ramona from her class in the stairway. She frantically lies and claims that she doesn't live there, she is just visiting someone. Tommy and Ramona, of course, don't believe her and pressurise Chrissie. They demand ten euros for the things that Chrissie broke or they will tell everyone that Chrissie's family is now poor.
Shortly after the other two have disappeared, Chrissie finds Tommy’s mother’s purse on the stairs. She takes the 40 euros and comes up with the plan to come up with the money for the class trip herself.
After school, Chrissie asks if her friend Clarissa can lend her 55 euros - the remaining amount she needs for the class trip. Chrissie promises that she will pay the money back really soon even though she knows that her pocket money will not suffice. Clarissa is surprised and wants to know why Chrissie needs the money. Chrissie claims that she is being blackmailed. Chrissie finally agrees but she only has 30 euros, which she will bring on Monday. Chrissie is relieved and lets herself be coaxed by Clarissa to buy an expensive ringtone. Chrissie's heartthrob, Dennis, from their class suddenly appears. Clarissa also quite likes Dennis and is looking forward to the class trip so she can get to know him better. Chrissie is horror-stricken and quickly says goodbye to a surprised Clarissa. In doing so, she doesn't notice how Dennis is laughing behind her back.
During the night, Chrissie sneaks over to her sleeping sister's bed and raids her piggy bank. Now she has the money she needs for the school trip.
On Monday morning at breaktime, Chrissie waits for the right moment to talk to the teacher by herself. Tommy and Ramona suddenly appear and want the ten euros for Tommy's things. Chrissie contemptuously refuses to pay for anything. Then Clarissa appears beside them. For a moment Chrissie is worried. But Ramona and Tommy decide to give her a reprieve and walk off.
Clarissa has brought the money with her but has become suspicious. She feels that Chrissie is hiding something from her.
The Class Trip
The teacher is surprised as Chrissie hands her the money in cash. She assumes that Chrissie's parents don't have an account any more. Tommy then comes running into the classroom and accidentally knocks Chrissie's bag off the table. Everything falls onto the floor. Tommy helps Chrissie pick up her things and finds his mother's purse. No lies can save Chrissie now. The other students start to come back into the classroom after breaktime and they all know that Chrissie has stolen. And all because she didn't want anyone to know that her parents don't have any money any more …
Money Costs
Bullying due to Receiving Benefits
CHRISSIE can't take her eyes off classmate DENNIS whilst the teacher, MRS FALLER, explains the activities to take place on the upcoming class trip with the help of a PowerPoint presentation. She admits to her friend, CLARISSA, that she thinks Dennis is really cute.
Chrissie is jealous, so in order to let off some steam she picks on classmate TOMMY, whose mother receives benefits. He, however, has the gift of the gab and at the end, the laugh is on her. Clarissa is angry. Chrissie asks the teacher for a letter with all the information regarding the class trip. She doesn't think that her parents have transferred the money yet. Clarissa looks at her questioningly.
In the playground, Chrissie watches Dennis playing football. Clarissa, however, wants to talk. Why haven't her parents transferred the money yet? Don't they have any money? Chrissie owes her friend an explanation but she has to go. Her father is picking her up from school today.
Daddy's Broke
Chrissie's father, STEFFAN, is waiting outside the school for his daughter. Chrissie notices straight away that they have a different car. Steffan has exchanged the expensive Mercedes for a cheaper car. The family needed money for moving house. Steffan and Chrissie's mother, KATJA, surprise their daughters Chrissie and the eight-year-old MADELEINE with a trip to a lake. The children jump excitedly into the water straight away and a playful struggle with the mother and father follows.
Later on, after the picnic, Chrissie uses the relaxed atmosphere to broach the subject of the upcoming class trip. Her parents explain to her their financial situation using slices of cake as a pie chart to help them. It becomes clear that the family have to watch every penny and that they can't afford Chrissie's extracurricular class trip.
Making Money
Chrissie is determined that she can come up with the money for the class trip by herself. She picks out some of her things to sell at a children’s flea market. She is even prepared to part with her favourite and very expensive G&D jacket. Furthermore she borrows 20 euros from Madeleine in order to “make more money”.
Chrissie steps into action. First of all she tries to paint postcards to sell but isn't happy with the results. Then she discovers her mother's camera and has an idea. She wanders through Berlin taking photos of the individual curiosities she comes across.
In the photo shop she negotiates a quantity discount with the perplexed salesman for her photos in postcard size.
At the weekend, despite the rain, Chrissie drags all her stuff to the flea market. Clarissa helps her set up her stand. Now the sales can begin. Clarissa suddenly notices Dennis who is walking around the stalls collecting donations. In any moment he will notice her. Clarissa is too embarrassed to be seen there so makes a run for it.
Whilst the sky clears, the sales slowly start to increase. Madeleine suddenly appears in front of Chrissie, holding up her CD player. She wants to swap it for a Game Boy. She will use Chrissie's MP3 player to listen to music in the future. Chrissie's mouth hangs open in disbelief. But she doesn't have time to keep thinking about her little sister, since a girl has discovered her G&D jacket and is trying to persuade her critical mother to pay Chrissie's proposed price. The mother wants to drive the price down but Chrissie won't budge. She has her price targets and won't stray from them since she has to buy herself a new jacket with the money and also needs money for the class trip. Meanwhile, Madeleine first swaps her CD player for a keyboard and then for a guitar and finally for the sought after Game Boy. Chrissie on the other hand has no success with the selling of her jacket.
Then Dennis appears in front of her. Chrissie is very embarrassed but Dennis understands the situation and wants to help her. He finds her a job helping his father.
Chrissie pulls up weeds. Despite working more than three hours, she only earns 16 euros at the end of it. It's much harder to earn money than she'd thought.
As she counts up all her earnings, Dennis comes and sits next to her. Chrissie hasn't got enough money for the class trip. So instead she gives Dennis some money for his charity donation box. Somewhere there are children suffering even more than her.
Chrissie tiredly climbs the stairs to her apartment, when she sees Tommy's mother's purse on one of the stairs. The money inside along with her money would be enough for the class trip. What should she do now? In the end she rings Tommy's doorbell and hands back the purse with a heavy heart.
The Class Trip
At break time, Chrissie goes to talk to the teacher. Despite not having enough money in total, she still hopes that she might be able to go on the class trip. Then her classmates come to her rescue. First Tommy gives her a finder’s reward for finding his mother's purse then Dennis comes and backs her up. The teacher is touched. She will do everything she can to try and get the money for Chrissie from the school funds - but she can't promise anything. Chrissie and the others take a step back. Then Dennis has an idea. They will make up the rest between them. Clarissa and Ramona want to help too. Chrissie can go on the class trip.